Imagineers Share Unique Glimpse of Te Fiti and ‘Moana’ Attraction

The Walt Disney Imagineers from the Disney team known as Walt Disney Imagineering are known for using innovation and creativity to design the roller coasters, attractions, and rides that populate Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort.

There have been many new releases on the docket from the Walt Disney Imagineers lately (and some that have not yet been released, but are coming soon), but one particularly high-anticipated attraction is the new attraction focused on the Disney princess Moana — and the focus of her story!

The Disney princess Moana is a Polynesian princess (voiced by Hawaiian actress and singer Auli’i Cravalho) who travels with the god Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) and a chicken named Hei Hei to restore the heart of the goddess of Te Fiti and heal the ocean.

Since water conservation and land conservation, not to mention a general love of the Earth, are all mainstays in the story of Moana from her 2016 film, it stands to reason that Disney World would choose to adopt a conservation-focused attraction in honor of the hit Disney princess movie.

This new attraction, Journey of Water Inspired By Moana, is coming to EPCOT this year — and its biggest conversation-starter is the 15-foot-tall grassy model of the goddess Te Fiti, which is incredibly lifelike (even if it does have one particularly surprising part of its anatomy on display)!

The Walt Disney Imagineers have just shared an extra look at Te Fiti and the work that went into creating this soon-to-be-iconic replica of a Disney movie goddess, including a discussion between the Imagineers and Walt Disney Animation Studios involving Te Fiti’s “exact pose.”

Disney shared new video of WDI at the project site for Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana. The video includes a closer look at Te Fiti.

The walkthrough attraction is set to open at EPCOT later this year. pic.twitter.com/imPkdr3fS8

— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) January 24, 2023

“Being a part of the team that helped create Te Fiti has been magical,” Diana Bibee (the Senior Production Designer for Walt Disney Imagineering) said enthusiastically in the Youtube video shown below. “We’ve been working on her for years.”

Te Fiti was obviously a tricky project, since the Imagineers had to work hard when it came to “figuring out the exact textures” of the model and “the color that would evoke her presence into a physical form” — but as we can see from the teaser images and videos of the EPCOT icon, they did a fantastic job and Te Fiti really does look like she is made of grass!

“I really hope our Guests walk away with the sense of stewardship towards water and all of our natural resources as well,” an Imagineer named Christopher added in the Twitter post shown above!

Are you excited about this Moana attraction?